Sam Villa, co-founder of Sam Villa and Global Artistic Ambassador for Redken 5th Avenue, has an interesting hack involving a new way to secure hair elastics that saves time, as well as protects hair and prevents breakage.
"Clients that constantly wear their hair in a ponytail in the same place often experience breakage due to the regular pulling, twisting and wrapping of the hair around a tightly secured hair elastic," says Villa. "The hair elastic rubs on the same section of hair roughing up the cuticle, making it fragile and causing it to break. Hair elastics with metal fasteners get caught in the hair and actually rip it out or cut it. Not to mention, hair that is pulled back wet (or becomes wet) stretches in its vulnerable state, which increases breakage too."
Villa’s solution is fastening the hair elastic in a new way:
Traditional Method: Place elastic in hair, twist and loop hair through multiples times until the elastic is tight enough.
Hack: Coat the elastic with a small amount of Redken braid aide 03 to help reduce the friction the elastic causes to the cuticle. Then, simple place the elastic in hair, twist the elastic as needed to tighten the slack, and then loop the hair though just once. The buffered elastic coupled with the minimal looping of the hair reduces cuticle friction, so hair is less likely to break-off or fray.
“This is a great trick to share with guests, as well as perfect for securing fragile smaller sections when coloring hair,” adds Villa.
Switching up where the ponytail is placed or rotating with braids is also another way to preserve the health of the hair. "And remember not to drag the elastic out when removing - that can damage hair too. Every loop used to secure an elastic should be undone when taking it out."
VIDEO HOW-TO:
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